On Developing a List of Institutions Comparable to the University of Massachusetts. Phase II: The Institutional Data Card.

Hewitt, Raymond G.

Most institutions like to have at their disposal a list of schools comparable to their own for a variety of purposes. The criteria that can be used for determining such a list are, however, numerous and it would appear to be impractical to expect one list based on certain criteria to be useful for all purposes. The Institutional Data Card was designed to enable the Office of Institutional Studies at the University of Massachusetts to have at hand accurate and up-to-date information on a sample of institutions. These data will not only be used to determine lists of institutions comparable to the University in terms of various criteria, but will also be used in planning future studies and surveys. This paper focuses on the coding and operation of the card itself. A previous paper described the rationale behind the system, and a third paper will evaluate the actual operation of the system once it has been implemented. (Author/HS)